Australians wanting to get their hands on a new Mac Pro would be better off reviving the old tricks of sourcing their hardware directly out of the United States than buying locally.
At its event in San Francisco earlier this morning, Apple unveiled a set of new iPads and MacBook Pros with Retina display, and announced the launch of the new Mac Pro.
The Mac Pro comes in two variants: A quad-core Xeon boasting 12GB of RAM, and a 6-core Xeon with 16GB of RAM. Both Mac Pros have dual GPUs, with the 6-core variant coming with 3GB of VRAM.
Australians wanting either of these new systems will have to dig deep, with the prices for the new Mac Pros being AU$3,999 and AU$5,299, respectively. By contrast, the US pricing is $2,999 and $3,999.
Doing a raw calculation of adding 10 percent for GST and calculating the currency conversion from US to Australian dollars, Australian Mac Pro buyers will be out of pocket by AU$600 for the lower-specification Mac Pro, and AU$766 for the high-end model.
| Mac Pro | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | AU$3,999 | AU$5,299 |
| United States | $2999 | $3999 |
The local pricing is not quite at the mark to say that it is cheaper to fly to the United States and back to make a purchase of a Mac Pro, but it is a turnaround in the trend of Apple's pricing to closely shadow US prices.
The news is better for Australian customers looking to make an iPad purchase, with the local prices on Apple's tablets closely reflecting the US pricing, once GST and currency conversion is taken into account.
A 16GB iPad mini with Wi-Fi will cost $399 in the US and AU$479 in Australia; looking at the straight currency conversion from US to Australian dollars, and adding 10 percent for GST, the raw conversion comes to AU$453.33. Similarly, a 128GB iPad Air with LTE costs $929, and by straight conversion with GST, it comes to AU$1,022; the retail price in Australia is AU$1,049.
| Australia | 16GB | 32GB | 64GB | 128GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPad Air Wi-Fi | AU$598 | AU$699 | AU$799 | AU$899 |
| iPad Air LTE | AU$749 | AU$849 | AU$949 | AU$1,049 |
| iPad mini Wi-Fi | AU$479 | AU$598 | AU$699 | AU$799 |
| iPad mini LTE | AU$629 | AU$749 | AU$849 | AU$949 |
| United States | 16GB | 32GB | 64GB | 128GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPad Air Wi-Fi | $499 | $599 | $699 | $799 |
| iPad Air LTE | $629 | $729 | $829 | $929 |
| iPad mini Wi-Fi | $399 | $499 | $599 | $699 |
| iPad mini LTE | $529 | $629 | $729 | $829 |
A top-of-the-line MacBook Pro with Retina display will cost $1,799 in the US, or AU$2,199 locally. After conversions and adding GST, an Australian customer is AU$262 out of pocket.
| MacBook Pro with Retina | Low | Mid | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | AU$1,599 | AU$1,849 | AU$2,199 |
| United States | $1,299 | $1,499 | $1,799 |
Updates to the latest Macintosh operating system, OS X Mavericks, will be free.